said to have?
There were scores of people rescued from the Titanic who witnessed this final heroic act of the band members on that fated vessel. Some of them even gave sworn congressional testimony which was recorded only days after the rescue vessels arrived in New York harbor. The entire transcript of the congressional hearings were released as a book not long after the fictionalized Hollywood version of the film Titanic was released.
Yes, people lie in congressional testimony, but where is the incentive to lie here? And why the skepticism of the media to duly recorded testimony just because it proves that we were a more religious and heroic people then versus now?
Because the atheists in the media can’t believe anyone would act other than in selfish self-preservation of one’s own body;if you don’t believe in God then self-sacrifice and piety are insane.
Because other witnesses testified that the band played ragtime airs and other secular music as well during the sinking. It has never been definitively proven that the ensemble played "Nearer My God to Thee."
But I agree that is makes for a much more poignant story.
Some say that they actually played “Autumn”, a popular tune at the time.
http://www.snopes.com/history/titanic/lastsong.asp
-—And why the skepticism of the media to duly recorded testimony just because it proves that we were a more religious and heroic people then versus now?-—
This is actually a “God moment” for me, because about a week ago I heard conservative local Boston radio talk show hosts debate this point, prompted by reports from Italy that wealthy passengers on the ill fated Concordia tried to buy seats on life boats with their money and jewelry.
The Catholic host said, “doesn’t this show how far our society has fallen in 100 years. When the Titanic sank, the band played, “Nearer my God to thee.”
The agnostic replied along the lines of, “that’s stupid. Why not grab something to float on.”
I felt like taking a shower, I was so disgusted.
I wonder if this discovery will get enough publicity, so people can make the connection.
The last music played by the ship’s orchestra was the song “Autumn”... or was it?
Sometime around 2:10 a.m. as the Titanic began settling more quickly into the icy North Altantic, the sounds of ragtime, familiar dance tunes and popular waltzes that had floated reassuringly across her decks suddenly stopped as Bandmaster Wallace Hartley tapped his bow against his violin. Hartley and his musicians, all wearing their lifebelts now, were standing back at the base of the second funnel, on the roof of the First Class Lounge, where they had been playing for the better part of an hour. There were a few moments of silence, then the solemn strains of the hymn “Nearer My God to Thee” began drifting across the water. It was with a perhaps unintended irony that Hartley chose a hymn that pleaded for the mercy of the Almighty, as the ultimate material conceit of the Edwardian Age, the ship that “God Himself couldn’t sink,” foundered beneath his feet. As the band played, the slant of the deck grew steeper, while from within the hull came a rapidly increasing number of thuds, bangs and crashes as interior furnishings broke loose, walls and partitions collapsed–the Titanic was only moments from breaking apart.
For years it has been commonly believed that the last music played by the Titanic‘s band was either the Episcopalian hymn “Autumn” or the popular waltz “Songe d’Automne.” However, the evidence for this has rested solely on the uncorroborated testimony of Harold Bride, who told a reporter for the New York Times that the last song he remembered the band playing was called “Autumn.” Bride, though, was the only person with that recollection, he only mentioned it once, and he never specified if he meant the hymn or the waltz. Moreover, despite the credence given him by some later historians, Bride was never the most reliable or consistent witness, and here his “memories” have to be taken with a rather large grain of salt. Tellingly, neither piece of “Autumn” music, the hymn or the popular waltz, is listed in the White Star Line’s music book for 1912. Also significant is that the hymn is not called “Autumn,” only the melody (much like the melody of the hymn “O God, Our Help in Ages Past” is known as “St. Anne’s”), and usually only a professional musician will refer to a piece of music that way–certainly not an 18-year old wireless operator. So without some sort of supporting or collaborating evidence, any piece of music named “Autumn” can be dismissed as the Titanic‘s orchestra’s last musical performance.
A very strong case can be made, however, for the hymn tradition and legend has always said was the last music played aboard the Titanic. There are a number of accounts of survivors who recalled hearing the hymn “Nearer, My God, to Thee,” and therein lies a tale. Commentators who have rigidly committed to the “‘Autumn theory’” are quick to point out that there are two melodies associated with “Nearer My God to Thee;” one (“Bethany”) is American, the other (“Horbury”) is British, the two sound distinctly different from each other and are impossible to confuse–yet both American and British survivors claimed to have heard “Nearer My God to Thee” being played by the ship’s orchestra. What those same commentators fail to mention is that there is a THIRD melody for “Nearer My God to Thee,” called “Propior Deo,” composed by Sir Arthur Sullivan, and it is here that the mystery of the last music played by Wallace Hartley and his fellow musicians finally begins to unravel itself. The melody “Propior Deo” would have been well known to the British passengers aboard the Titanic, and in passages it sounds very similar to “Bethany”–and nothing at all like “Horbury.” In the noise and confusion of the night, it would hardly be surprising if both Americans and Britons, hearing only snatches of music, would both believe that they were hearing the version of “Nearer, My God, to Thee” with which they were most familiar.
Moreover, “Nearer My God to Thee” was known to be a favorite of Bandmaster Hartley’s–who was also a friend of Sir Arthur Sullivan and who liked Sullivan’s music–and it was the hymn played at the graveside of all deceased members of the Musician’s Union. Perhaps most convincing of all is a report in the Daily Sketch on April 22, 1912, where a colleague of Hartley’s recalled how some years earlier, while working aboard the Mauretania, he asked Hartley what he would do if he found himself on the deck of a sinking ship. Hartley replied that he would assemble the ship’s orchestra and play “O God Our Help in Ages Past” or “Nearer, My God, to Thee.” Somehow, taken all together, it seems definitive enough.
Don'cha know, if it's not on youtube, it didn't happen.
Simple. Abandonment of civil behavior, chivalry if you will, is the hallmark of modern society. Heroism is passe. Humans weren't created by God in His image; we are descended from monkeys. Were Americans (and Brits and Europeans) actually to contemplate that men can still answer a higher calling, that maybe each of us really does have a unique worth, then we might start to question our masters in government. Who knows where that could lead.
“And why the skepticism of the media to duly recorded testimony just because it proves that we were a more religious and heroic people then versus now?”
###
In a word: Yes.
Of course. Progressives can’t accept the clear, indisputable fact that people and society of 100 years ago were markedly more civilized, courageous and advanced in common courtesy, than the coarse, rude and obscene cultural cesspool of 2012.
And in 1912, no oversaturated, omnipresent, chattering media jackals to tell us how to think...or at least ATTEMPT to...